Recent Hollis Pictures

It is funny how fast they change! Seems like overnight that your sweet little newborn transforms into a baby and their personality takes shape! She has only been here for two and a half month, but already Miss Hollis has settled right into the Fahring family.

Hollis is such a happy baby. She has a smile that can melt your heart. She is content and very go with the flow... except of course now, she is screaming because I will not hold her and put her to sleep. Her one flaw... she is a snuggler and wants to be held when she sleeps. Totally cool when they are newborns, but I cannot come to college with her and rock her to sleep so I guess now is as good as time ever to break her habit!

I took some sweet pictures of her this afternoon, so I thought I would let everyone see how much she is changing. Literally, I think she grows everyday!

Oh yeah... she is already a sleep! I guess it not too bad falling asleep all on your own!

Thankful

Of course it is Thanksgiving time which means it is the one day of 365 days that we are supposed to stop and count our blessings. Something about this the crisp air or the warmth of our home reminds me to think of all the things we are grateful for. I am, however, more disappointed that I cannot think to be this thankful all year round. Our family is blessed beyond imagination! I am convinced that I certainly do not deserve the blessings I receive every second of everyday. Instead of getting hung up on New Year's resolutions I am making a personal resolution now to be more grateful for the wonderful blessings we have been given.

I think I can speak for all when I say there are several times throughout the week or even the day when we get stressed and overwhelmed. Instead of getting mad or upset, I am trying to remember that today is the only day when the girls will be at this stage. Tomorrow they will change and be doing something new. If I choose to feel stressed then I have chosen to miss out on a day I can never get back. If I really put things in perspective, there is going to be a day when I look back and miss how small they were. I am going to miss their little fits because they are sleepy or because it has been two hours since the last feeding and we are about to die of starvation!

Aside from the girls, We are thankful for our family. We are glad they are always just a phone call away and can be such a great part of live. By family, I also mean friends. We cannot believe the wonderful people who have chosen to surround us with their love. They have fallen in love with our children as if they were true relatives. It has brought us such joy to watch both of them look at our friends and family with admiration, love and the occasional crush... Brett Carey!

If you are reading this, then you are one of the people we are truly thankful for. You have taken time from your day to check in on us and see what we are up to. While it might only be a minute of your time it means the world to us that you care what wonderful blessings the Fahring Family has received lately!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving... Eat up and get stuffed!

Go Dawgs!

I am on a posting roll! Two in one day... simmer down now!

On Monday night, we drove to Athens to meet Todd who was at a conference for work. We spent the night at the Georgia Center and then spent all of Tuesday in Athens.

It was great being back in Athens. I love being up there! I think a part of my heart will always be in Athens. As were driving around I would reminded of what a wonderful town it is, and I was flooded with memories from my four years there!

Anyhow, this was the first time Allyn has been to UGA. As we drove into campus on Monday night she could see all the campus transit buses. Each one she saw she said, "Mommy, Go Dawgs bus!" It was hilarious! We have been working with her on when she sees the Georgia logo to say Go Dawgs. Well you can imagine being on campus she was saying Go Dawgs constantly! I am sure Gus and Juice could not be more proud than they are right now! NOT!!

Todd and I would ask her if she like college and she said Ya! We should start with baby steps first and conquer pre-school before we tackle college!! Here are some pictures of her at East-West getting her first taste of sweet potato chips (which she loved), and chasing squirrels on North Campus! Oh yeah, and one picture of Hollis enjoying college life also!

We County Folk Like'em Big!

On Monday we had Hollis' 2 month appointment and Allyn's 2 year check-up. Allyn weighed in at a whooping 23.5 pounds. She made a HUGE gain in her percentiles... from 0% to 6%. Watch out!! (insert sarcasm now)

On a heavier, (play on words)Hollis was 11 lbs and 5 oz. This puts her in the 65% for weight! I guess she is just trying to get accustomed to country life. Should we tell her we do not have horses to feed and hay to carry? Nah... she is too cute with her little fat rolls.

Hollis is a spitting image of Todd. He said he was concerned that he would not be a pretty girl, but now seeing Hollis he is convinced she is super cute! Hollis absolutely adores Allyn. She stares at her all the time. She smiles when she is being silly. You can tell Hollis is taking in everything Allyn is doing. Allyn still loves her so much. Sometimes we have to hold her back because she is suffocating Hollis when she is kissing all over her!

Other than feeding two growing girls we are doing great! The days fly by and are filled with non-stop excitement! I would not trade places with anyone!

Lastly, I said I would never do it, but I did. I dressed the girls alike. How can you resist when they are both so cute?! Allyn loved being dressed like Hollis. She kept running over to Hollis and telling her they had on the same shirt! I am sure Hollis knew exactly what she was saying! Haha! I tried to get some pictures of them, but of course Allyn was being a goof!

Just for fun, what is something you find yourself doing that you swore you never would?

Halloween

Our Halloween was great! This was a great year because Allyn is finally getting old enough to actually get trick-o-treating. It took her a few houses to get the idea, but once she did she was hooked!

Her good friend Genevieve, or "Jesse" as she calls her, came to our house to go trick-o-treating. Genevieve was a black cat and Allyn was a monkey. They were so cute! I would say cutest in the neigborhood by far!!

We only made it to about 15 houses and that took about an hour and a half! Once we got home both girls came straight into the living room dumped out their bags and dug in. It was like they knew exactly what to do! We just let them eat and eat... why not!!

Hollis was a little ghost. She thought Halloween was great... well great for napping that is!

Here are some pictures:

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Oh yeah, the pictures of Allyn as a Ballerina are from Gymboree. We tried it out the day before Halloween and it was costume day.

Ode to Maci and Kristy... old running buddies!

Since the weather has been so wonderful and I deperately need to try and get back into some shape I decided to go for a run yesterday afternoon. I was great. I was by myself and happily ran through the neighborhood jamming to my favorite tunes. I was about half way through my run when I began a small trip down memory lane. Most of you remember that about two months before I got pregnant with Allyn me and Kristy Masterson ran in the Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon. I started to think about how completely insane we were. If it was 19 degrees we were running, if it was pouring down rain we were running, if was a heat advisory and no one should be doing physical activity we were running, if we had strep throat we were running. Who is that crazy? We were so decidicated. We would get up on Saturday morning before the sun was even up and embark on our 13 mile trek around Suwanee.

As I was struggling to even complete thirty minutes of continuous running, I could not believe that we could run for a continous two hours and really not feel so bad when we were done. Granted we spent our fair share in ice baths after our runs and went throw several boxes of band-aids to cover our blisters... but isn't that what running is all about?

Running is fun, but I do not think I ever want to be that crazy again! On the final stretch of my run yesterday, I had a small memorial service in my head for the old Maci and Kristy running team... may we never be that insane again!!!

Kristy is such a dear and wonderful friend of mine and it is funny how we both look back at that time and just laugh. We laugh at how we even did it and how it completely consumed our lives. I think we will both just stick to the light jog around the park on warm sunny days!

Love you Kristy!!

Pictures of Hollis

Our dear sweet friend Christie Carey took picture of Hollis. She does such an amazing job. There were so many more that I could post, but I had to control myself. There are not many of Hollis and Allyn because Allyn took a nap during our little photo shoot. Christie is going to come back and do several pictures of just the girls and then some of all four of us. Please check out her website at 3cexpressions.com.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com